


Cruciatus

by fairyaverage



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Curse Damage, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, House-Elf Abuse (Harry Potter), Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Lucius Malfoy's A+ Parenting, M/M, Past Child Abuse, St Mungo's Hospital
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:01:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28086600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairyaverage/pseuds/fairyaverage
Summary: Entering the house, he could hear the sounds of a struggle, something crashing to the ground and shattering. Harry whipped out his wand so fast and bolted towards their study, the worst possible scenarios flashing through his mind. He threw the door open and his heart stopped. Draco was lying on the floor, crying. It had seemed the lamp had been thrown. "Draco?"(Lots of fluff despite the heavier conversations. Please heed the tags)
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Comments: 4
Kudos: 139





	Cruciatus

**Author's Note:**

> Obviously this is not canon compliant, and unfortunately these characters belong to J.K Rowling, but I do not hold any of her views and neither do the characters when I write them. Everyone. Is. Valid. I will throw hands with anyone who tries to say otherwise.
> 
> Also this is my first time posting on Archive so if formatting or anything is messed up, I apologize! No beta so all mistakes are my own. Cross posted on Wattpad under the same username.

Harry had just finished up with his latest project, having restored Sirius' old motorbike. He had spent months on it, using it to cope with all the horrors of the war, using it as a chance to escape and keep his hands and mind occupied. He had poured blood and sweat into it, and now the only thing he wanted to do was surprise his fiance with a ride out to the field they had found where they often played seekers games, where Harry had charmed a snitch to say 'Will you marry me?' once it was caught. He ran up to the house where he knew Draco was unpacking some books he had taken from the manor but kept in the basement.

Entering the house, he could hear the sounds of a struggle, something crashing to the ground and shattering. Harry whipped out his wand so fast and bolted towards their study, the worst possible scenarios flashing through his mind. He threw the door open and his heart stopped. Draco was lying on the floor, crying. It had seemed the lamp had been thrown. "Draco?"

The blond man tried to shield himself from Harry's view, not wanting to be seen in this state, but knowing it was too late.

"Come here, love" Harry moved closer, reaching his hand down to help him up.

"I can't" a brief sob slipped past the hand he had covering his mouth. "I can't."

Harry could feel his heart shatter as he heard how broken the man before him sounded. He knelt at his side, pulling his fiance close to him, shifting his fingers through the platinum locks in the way he knew calmed the man down. "I've got you, you're safe."

Draco let himself be enveloped in the embrace, timing his breathing to Harry's to slow it down. "Can you bring me to St. Mungos? I can't seem to be able to move my legs." Concern immediately filled Harry's face as he apparated them without warning.

Shame turned Draco's face at the thought of how pathetic he must look to all the people in the waiting room, being carried like a helpless child, but there was nothing else to be done at the moment so he simply burrowed his face into Harry's neck to try and block it all out. Thankfully Harry wasn't above using his name when it involved helping Draco, and within moments they were being escorted to a private room on the fourth floor, spell damage.

The moment the healer tried to straighten his legs after Harry placed him on the bed, he felt fire coursing from his hips to his toes and he couldn't help but scream out in agony, startling those in the room. "Oh my, I haven't seen it even close to this bad before" the healer wrote something down on the clipboard. "I'll be back momentarily and we will sort you out dear."

Harry conjured a cool cloth to place on Draco's forehead, whispering soothing words of encouragement. Draco continued to writhe fretfully on the bed, groaning in pain. Seconds later the healer returned with a colleague and they began running diagnostic spells and checking vitals.

"I believe you are familiar with Frank and Alice Longbottom, correct?" Healer Emilia began "They are an example of what happens after being crucio'd for a long duration of time. This however, is due to the cruciatus curse being administered for shorter lengths over many days or months. The leg spasms we see here are most common in abuse victims, but we have never seen any this severe. It's an unpredictable side effect, as the cause of the spasms is typically random. It could happen from pinching a fried nerve, some have said bad weather brings it on, or while just sitting on a couch. Regardless, when it happens, the best way to deal with it is to remain as still as possible, letting the spasms run their course. You will most likely find your leg quite stiff and uncooperative for several days afterwards, but that is normal. If you had to guess, how often have you been on the receiving end of the curse?"

Draco was looking anywhere but at the people in the room, fists clenched tightly. "He started summer after third year, and from then on it was a regular occurance over holidays and summer break. When Vol-" he took a sharp intake of breath "Voldemort was particularly fond of this curse my sixth year. Merlin, I couldn't even begin to try and count how many times I had been hit by the curse. It was just how things were dealt with."

"Would I be correct in assuming this was your father?" Healer Emilia asked softly, replacing the cloth Harry had been holding with a new one while Healer Isah began to line up a tray of muscle relaxant potions and salves and handing the first to Draco, who remained silent, dutifully drinking the potions.

"How long will he have to stay here?" Harry anxiously checked the time on his watch, it had only been forty five minutes, but hospital time always seemed to pass twice as slowly.

"Once he can straighten and bend his legs with minimal pain, he can be on his way. I expect it should take no longer than a week."

"A week?' he exclaimed. "I barely even stayed a week when I had splinched myself terribly. He should be able to rest in his own bed and not be stuck in some hospital!"

"Mr. Potter sit down. As we have said, his case is severe, and you should have just called for a healer and left him where you had found him. Moving him anymore than he already has been is inadvisable. As it is, I can't promise you that he will be walking completely normal after this incident, and incidents like these are bound to happen throughout the rest of his life if he strains himself or hits the wrong nerve. Our staff is doing the best we can, but if you are going to continue to impede his healing we will have to escort you out immediately. Are we clear?" The healer's quiet voice got considerably more stern and her eyes sharpened. Harry merely nodded his head and did not say anything more.

"It's okay, Harry. It's not like the beds here are horrid, and now I have a whole personnel at my beck and call. Just a week, we can manage." Draco spoke quietly, attempting a smirk but Harry could tell that he had no energy left. In reply Harry simply took his fiance's hand and settled himself beside the bed, knowing they were both going to be here awhile.

\- - - - -

"I don't want to use the bloody cane!" Draco shouted and stormed down to the kitchen as dramatically as he could, but the effect was ruined by his heavy limp and the fact that he was leading himself along the wall to stay upright.

"You're clearly in pain! At least let me help you!" Harry had hurried to his side and placed Draco's hand on his elbow, but his fiance shook him off. "Love, be reasonable."

"I am being reasonable. I'm not some useless invalid, I don't need your help and I absolutely do not want the fucking cane."

"I will not be yelled at like this over some dumb piece of wood. Let me know when you're willing to discuss this in a civil manner." Harry had no other choice but to simply walk beside him, matching the incredibly slow pace, prepared to catch him if he tripped or his legs seized up once more. Eventually, they made it to the kitchen. Draco was now winded, and had a seat on the couch while Harry got started on dinner. Harry had brought the couch home a few weeks ago. It was large and leather, adorned with soft pillows and a maroon throw blanket that Draco wanted to burn. He didn't of course, because both the couch and blanket were ridiculously comfortable, but he would never admit that to his partner.

Draco could hear Harry puttering away in the kitchen, grabbing things from the fridge, opening drawers and closing them a little more forcefully than usual. They had spent their entire childhoods bickering and fighting each other. When they first became friends years after Hogwarts, they still argued constantly, but it lacked the poison their childhood taunts held. Eventually their bickering became flirtatious, and taunts were backed with love rather than hatred. So Draco hated when they argued. But he hated admitting that maybe Harry was right even more. So he simply continued his silent treatment, ignoring the scorching pain radiating all the way up his leg and through his hip from walking down the stairs. He was hurting and really just wanted to be wrapped up in Harry's arms to make him feel safe, and he absolutely would not cry about it, dammit.

Dinner was a quiet affair, neither having anything to say to the other at the moment. It wasn't until after dinner when they had settled down on the couch with their respective work that Harry finally sighed, unable to take the tension and putting his lesson plans down. He pulled Draco's legs onto his lap and began massaging the tense muscles. "I'm sorry, I know this must be really frustrating for you, I just-" Harry's voice broke off, full of emotion as he willed his tears away. "I just really hate seeing you in so much pain when there's something that we can do about it."

Draco was quiet for several more minutes, letting himself truly relax for the first time all day. "I know, it's just," He sighed, struggling for words. "I don't want to be my father."

"You absolutely are nothing like Lucious, I promise you." Harry cracked a faint smile. "Otherwise I wouldn't sleep with you." His partner merely rolled his eyes in response, but Harry could feel more of the tension leave Draco's body. It was silent for several minutes, and he listened to the crackling hearth and ticking of the clock. He had learned it was better to allow the other man space to process his thoughts instead of trying to needle words from him. He would speak when he was ready. Harry continued massaging the sore muscles, waiting.

"After using the- after punishing me, he would-" Draco swallowed harshly and cleared his throat before trying again. "If I collapsed to the ground, it was worse. He'd step over me, grinding his cane into my thigh, but if I stayed standing, if I took the curse 'with the dignity befitting a proper Malfoy man' he would simply knock me off balance after with his cane and leave." Draco tried to ignore the shaking in his hands, he had never actually spoken about this before. Even now, years after his father's death, he was still trying to ignore the little voice in his brain telling him to shut up, to stop shaming the family name. Instead, he continued with his explanation. "He'd use that blasted cane to punish the house elves. The first time Hermione got top of the class, putting me right behind her, I came away covered welts across my back, one for every class she was better than me in. Malfoy's do not come in second to filthy mudbloods" he sneered, imitating the phrase he heard his father say whenever grades arrived by owl. He always dreaded his results.

Harry had long since abandoned the massage, opting instead to wrap his fiance in his arms and hold him tightly, trying to protect him from his past and remind him how loved he was. "I had no idea it was that bad, Draco. Why didn't you tell me?"

Draco picked at the hem of Harry's shirt, trying to break off the loose thread with little effort. "I guess it never really occurred to me how bad it had actually been. It's not something I like to dwell on, and frankly it had just been the way life was for so long, it became my normal."

"Thank you for trusting me" Harry placed a soft kiss on the other man's forehead, trying to push away the hatred towards Malfoy Sr. Now was not the time for that. As much as he hated him, he was still Draco's father, and while clearly their relationship wasn't the best, Draco still loved him and was heartbroken when he was sentenced to the dementor's kiss. "I won't push the cane, but that means you have to restrict your movements significantly. If there's something you need, just accio or ask me to grab it. You're still healing." Harry gave him one last squeeze before releasing him. "Should we head to bed?"

"Carry me?"

Harry scooped the man up easily, laughing as they headed up the stairs towards their bedroom and placing him gently on the bed. "Promise you'll let me know when you're hurting?"

"I promise." Draco grabbed Harry's belt loops to pull him down for a kiss, but he still seemed distracted. "Harry?"

"I'm sorry, it's nothing. I've got to head to Hogwarts in the morning to get prepped for fall term, we should sleep."

"What's wrong? -and don't even give me that look, I know there's something bothering you and you just don't want to tell me because you're the big, strong Savior of the Wizarding World and you're supposed to keep everyone safe, because that isn't how relationships work. You need to let me help you too." Draco turned to face Harry who had undressed and crawled under the duvet with him.

"I'm sorry, I can't help but feel guilty." Harry relaxed as Draco ran his fingers through the mess of curls atop his head. "I mean, you heard the healers. I shouldn't have moved you, and what if it were your spine that had been injured? I could have paralyzed you permanently, and who knows how much faster you would be healing if I had actually stopped and thought before apparating you away."

"Exactly. Who knows? It doesn't matter because there's nothing we can do about it now. I told you to bring me, you didn't just make the executive decision. We are a team, and this isn't anyone's fault but my fathers." Draco looked into Harry's eyes, trying desperately to get his point across. If there was one thing that Harry was good at, it was taking the blame for everything, carrying everything on his martyr shoulders. "You were not the one who spent years cursing me. This. Is. Not. Your. Fault."

Harry mumbled incoherently, neither agreeing or disagreeing.

"I want to hear you say it."

"Fine. This isn't my fault."

"I love you." Draco pulled Harry's back against his stomach, spooning him.

"I love you too, darling."


End file.
